Saturday, January 01, 2005

I went up to our roof at about 5-til to see if I could spot any distant fireworks and to ring in the new year with my neighbors. Once I got out of the stairwell and could see the horizon, I did indeed see fireworks. In fact, I could see them from nearly every borough. Prospect Park and Central Park were plain as day, and glimpses of the Bronx, Queens and Hoboken were plentiful. There were at least 7 visible displays. I was pleased.

The fireworks from Prospect Park:

Unfortunately, about 10 minutes after I made it to the roof, and a few after midnight, I heard a girl desperately trying to get someone to call 911. It wasn't immediately clear what had happened, as 50 or more drunken/high onlookers tend to cloud a situation, but from what I could overhear, a guest of one of the parties in the building had overdosed on heroin and taken a 6-7 foot fall off of our stage/deck.

He was out cold and no one was doing anything. Right about then, 3 or 4 kids announced that they had gotten through to 911. An army of cops, EMTs, and firemen showed up about 15 minutes after that.

They took their time once they made it to the roof, going down their medical checklists and smartly assessing the condition of the crowd and whether they'd be called back later in the evening.

In the end, they packed him up and assured the now sobered onlookers that he'd be ok.